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Crossbow bolts

A crossbow bolt is a precision instrument, which is why take care when adding new crossbow arrows to our assortment. We’ve got them ranging from 6.5 inch pistol crossbow bolts up to 20 inch crossbow bolts and even larger. Read more

Traditional bow arrows

What are crossbow bolts?

First of all, a crossbow arrow -as a crossbow bolt is also called- consists of multiple parts. There’s the shaft to begin with. You know, that stick. It has a point and on the rear there’s a nock that lies against the crossbow string. Finally, there’s fletching. Feathers or vanes that stabilise the arrow.

Crossbow bolts do, at a first glance, seem quite similar to normal arrows. There are differences though, the nock being the main one. A normal arrow will have the nock clamping around the bowstring, making it stay put and allowing the archer to forget about it and completely focus on aiming.
With a crossbow, there’s no need to clamp the bolt to the string, as the crossbow arrow lies stable on the crossbow itself. That’s why crossbow bolts often have a flat nock or one with just a slight hollow. More about that in a minute.

In general, crossbow bolts are shorter than normal arrows. When using a bow, the draw length depends on the bow and the posture of the person using it, which is why they need to be long. There’s no need for that in crossbows and the arrows are shorter as a result. They’re often also a bit more robust, as crossbows tend to be a bit more powerful than a normal bow. This has everything to do with the draw weight. With a normal bow, the draw weight should be low enough for you to hold the string back with comfort while aiming. A crossbow can be heavier to pull, but after a short burst of force for cocking, you can relax. So, after the initial effort, you can aim for hours if you want.

Although there are more materials out there, like wood and fibreglass, almost all modern crossbow bolts are made from aluminium, carbon or a combination of both, called composite bolts. Aluminium is tough, but can warp or dent and the larger diameter needed for stiffness adds wind sensitivity. Carbon is extremely straight and stiff, making for a smaller diameter and less wind sensitivity. However, carbon isn’t extremely impact resistant; it doesn’t bend, but splinters instead. For this reason, a combination of aluminium and carbon is often chosen, making composite crossbow bolts a popular choice for those who need to get the best performance out of their crossbows.

Which length crossbow bolt?

Where a normal bow needs a certain arrow length to match the draw length that accommodates for both the posture of the archer and the draw weigh to be in balance, a crossbow has just a fixed draw length where the posture of the archer isn’t important. Every crossbow has its own preferred crossbow bolt length, which is usually shorter than a standard arrow.

In theory, longer crossbow bolts than recommended can be used, but never use shorter ones. A crossbow arrow that’s too short will have its point laying on the crossbow. This can damage the crossbow and when the point is a bit thicker than the shaft, the bolt won’t lie flat. If you use a too short crossbow bolt and do let the point hang out, the string will make a lot of speed, before slapping onto the nock, which is clearly wrong on multiple levels. It’s bad for accuracy, it’s bad for the crossbow, it’s bad for the bolt and it can simply be extremely dangerous.

So, always make sure to choose a crossbow bolt that’s long enough to have the point sticking out. 16 inch crossbow bolts are popular, as they will fit most commercial crossbows. However, a very popular choice are 20 inch crossbow bolts and for those of you who are walking around with big, hefty crossbows, we’ve also got 22 inch crossbow bolts.

Pistol crossbow bolts

They’re a league of their own, the little crossbow bolts that are suitable for compact pistol crossbows. Popular choice are the 6.5 inch crossbow bolts, but we’ve also got them in 7.5 inch. These have a tad more weight, giving a bigger impact and deeper penetration. The 6.5 inch crossbow bolts are lighter and will show a higher speed, while also having a bigger reach. Because of their flatter trajectory, they will have less drop on short distances.

Tips for buying crossbow bolts

Besides length, there are two other things to watch for when buying crossbow bolts. First, there’s the nock; there are roughly four types and we recommend using the one that your crossbow manufacturer has specified.

The most simple nock is the flat nock. With this nock, doesn’t matter how you orientate the crossbow arrow, as long as the point is at the front and the nock is at the rear. Whichever fletching points up, the nock will always lie against the string in the same way, as it’s flat. Mind you, the crossbow needs to be suitable for flat nocks, otherwise the spring can jump over the arrow, resulting in all kinds of nastiness. For instance, without an arrow to transfer the energy to, all the energy of the shot will hit back into the crossbow, meaning you can fracture the crossbow.

Then there are grooved nocks. With two of those, you need to make sure the one fletching with a different colour is placed inside the flight groove of your crossbow. This is so the groove will align with the string. If it doesn’t, the string will jump over the arrow. Bad for your crossbow and pretty dangerous, as the arrow will find its own way, wherever that may be. So, the grooved nocks: there’s the half moon nock with just a slight indent. And there’s the capture nock that is nearly similar to the deep nocks of handbow arrows, it’s just the two nubs that are missing, as the arrow doesn’t need to be clamped to the string.

To add just one other nock, we’d like to mention the omni nock. It features a hollow with six indents around the edge. This crossbow bolt doesn’t discriminate which fletching needs to be put into the flight groove, as all orientations will have the crossbow string fitting into two of the indents of the nock.

Another point of interest is the weight of the crossbow bolt. When the weight’s too low for the crossbow in question, the crossbow arrow doesn’t offer enough resistance, which means too much of the energy will slap back into the crossbow. This can result in fractures. On the other hand, if a crossbow bolt is too heavy, it won’t make enough speed, although it won’t damage the crossbow. As a rule of thumb, every pound (454 grammes) of draw weight should be met by a weight of the bolt of minimal 2 to 2.5 grains (a grain is 0.065 grammes).

Regarding the spine (stiffness) there are other rules that apply for handbow arrows where the spine can have an effect on the arrows deviating to the left or right. Crossbow bolts generally need a spine of at least 400 to be stiff enough. This means a flex of just 400 thousands of an inch.

Buying affordable crossbow bolts

Naturally, when using crossbow bolts for competition or hunting (where permitted), you’d want the highest specifications. But we also know that recreational crossbow shooters are often looking for cheaper crossbow bolts. Crossbow arrows can break or get lost, especially when playing around. It’s what happens to everybody, so don’t worry. With affordable crossbow bolts, you’re just shooting a bit more relaxed. That’s why we’ve got a large assortment of recreational crossbow bolts. We try to offer recreational crossbow bolts with the best value for money. So, while they’re affordable, we try to provide you with the best you can get for that money. Our crossbow bolts offer good quality, while still being affordable, making recreational crossbow shooting just that bit more fun.

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